5 key steps for marketing your business in uncertain times

If you have found that your usual marketing approach doesn’t work at the moment, it could be for a very good reason.  

The pandemic is ongoing. For many people, Christmas was cancelled. Home schooling is a reality of daily life for lots of parents. Nothing is easy.

Usually at this time of year businesses are in full flow. New sales can be easier to make. Your customers are in a good mood. They want to seize the day.  But 2021 has not started as a usual year.

Here are 5 key steps to take that will help you market your business right now. 

1. Talk to your customers, not at them

Depending on the size of your company you may know each of your clients personally. Even if you don’t you need to act as you do. 

Relationship building is vitally important to marketing at the moment.

Evaluate every marketing message you are using. 

Is it sympathetic to the issues your audience are facing?  

Have you considered that budgets may be reduced? Can you help them with that?  Are payment plans available that will help people purchase despite the difficulties?

Whatever industry you are in, get to know the issues your customer's faces, and adjust your offer and your marketing accordingly.

2. Make sure you have their attention

Be aware that people have even less time than usual at present.

This reduces their availability to you.  To stand even half a chance of influencing customers your content needs to be 100% relevant, useful and helpful. If you are not sure about the issues your customers have, a quick Google search can be very enlightening. Look at the questions that people are searching for information on. Can you use these to adapt your messages?

People pay attention only when things are relevant to them. Make sure your marketing is or face being put on the back burner.

3. Make sure your marketing is about them not you

Good marketing starts with a community who are receptive. 

No one likes to speak with people who only talk about themselves. 

Now more than ever ask questions in your marketing. If you run communities make sure that the moderators are aware of key issues and trends and design questions around those.  

People are not always in purchase mode.  We may like to think they are, but a lot of relationship-building needs to go into most sales. 

Be as helpful and useful to your customer as you can and they won’t forget you.

4. Market to one person, not 1 million

In most companies marketing messages address the masses. But changing one simple word can make a difference.  

In emails, talk to one person, not everyone.  Changing your greeting to the person's name, and your message so it reads to just the person receiving it can make a huge difference in the quality of connection.

Notice the difference between “How are you?” v.s “How is everyone today?”.

5. Consistency is king

Now more than ever people value consistency. When everything else in the world is changeable and out of control, being the one thing people can rely on counts for a lot. 

This can translate into when you schedule your weekly emails, if you tell people it’s coming on Friday make it Friday! 

If you promise to go live in your Facebook group every lunchtime then do it. If you usually post at 9am on Instagram and then change it to 11am, don’t be surprised if no one sees it.  

Being consistent means being dependable for your customers. If your marketing is dependable it stands to reason that you will be too.

Thank you for reading, I hope these marketing tips will help you and your customers get through the coming months together.